good news turned bad...

[jonesy]

Hi,

Just put the T350 in to change the cam cover, they checked the valve clearances and 2 valves are very bad news. Looks like a top end rebuild at very best. Just when its sunny and have a trip to France fully planned...

What are peoples thoughts on the options?

Anyone gone from 3.6 to 4.0RR? Is the change significant?

Thanks,

J.

[L33]

I think you need to talk to Icraigmy:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=0...

I believe he went the 4.0 route in his Tamora.

[icraigmy]

jonesy said:

Hi,

Just put the T350 in to change the cam cover, they checked the valve clearances and 2 valves are very bad news. Looks like a top end rebuild at very best. Just when its sunny and have a trip to France fully planned...

What are peoples thoughts on the options?

Anyone gone from 3.6 to 4.0RR? Is the change significant?

Thanks,

J.

Hi jonesy,

Yep certainly did and enjoying every minute of it. Best thing I done to my Tamora.

Here is the info on my 4.0L RR engine rebuild.

Option 1: 4 Ltr Red Rose Upgrade to standard spec,
Engine rebuild labour £1750.00
Engineering inc head rework £600.00
Parts £4720.40
Sub total £7070.40
VAT @17.5% £1237.32
Total £8307.72

Option 2: 4 Ltr Red Rose Blueprinted Upgrade.
Engine rebuild labour £2140.00
Engineering rework, block modification, and balancing £1350.00
Parts £4875.40
Sub total £8365.20
VAT @17.5% £1463.91
Total £9829.11

I decided to choose option 1, as I could'nt stretch my funds an extra
£2000 for the blueprinted upgrade. It took about a month and the following
work was done:

Cylinder Head: Bronze valve guides removed, ports decoked. Up rated
chilled cast valve guides fitted and seats machine cut to suit three
angles. Up rated plasma nitrided valves fitted with the latest up graded
cams and followers. Up rated head washers to stop head gasket failure.

Cylinder block: Fully stripped and debunged block. Cylinder bores checked
for ovality and ball honed. Oilway modifications carried out. Crankshaft:
A new cross drilled 92mm stroke cast crankshaft was fitted and checked for
size.

Conrods: A set of forged 4ltr Red Rose molycoated pistons were supplied.

Pistons: A set of Asso Wercke 4ltr Red Rose molycoated pistons.

The original engine was fully stripped, inspected, cleaned and rebuilt to
the latest specification. All seals and bearings were replaced and
stainless steel bolts used on all covers.

I'll list what has been added to the engine:
Parts Description Quantity
Headgasket [1]
Chilled Cast Inlet Camshaft [1]
Chilled Cast Ex Camshaft [1]
Followers [24]
Plasma Nitrade Inlet Valve [12]
Plasma Nitrade Ex Valve [12]
Chilled Cast Valve Guide [24]
Valve Stem Seal [24]
Uprated Headwasher [14]
Piston (inc rings, pins) [6]
1/2 Time Bearing [2]
Big End Bearing [12]
Main Bearing [14]
Aux Shaft bearing [2]
Aux Shaft Seal [2]
Front Crank Seal [1]
Waterpump O Ring [2]
Consumables
Conrod 4Ltr [6]
Uprated Chain Slipper [1]
Crankshaft(new) [1]
Red Rose Injector [6]
Red Rose Eprom Chip [1]

The certificate of proof of work says:

"This vehicle has had a full engine rebuild bringing it up to the latest
TVR spec. It has also had a 4ltr Red Rose upgrade, which included a new
cross drilled ADI 92mm cast crank, a set of matched 4ltr forged conrods, a
set of molycoated 4ltr Red Rose pistons, a set of upgraded injectors and
an upgraded ECU eprom chip. All these parts were new."

Hope this helps, and you get a good engine rebuild/upgrade.

Speak to Richard at Dulfords.

I chose Richard to do my engine upgrade because he has about 20 years experience in TVR engines, and his engines have been
proven on the race track.

Best regards,

Ian

[jonesy]

Thanks for all the detail Ian. Essentially you have a full rebuild then?

When did you have yours done, to me those prices seem sky high, luckily (for me at lease) prices now seem much more reasonable...

Thanks,

J.

[thainy77]

You can get a Power 4.3 for that or less with 5 years warranty, can't go wrong.

[willtvr]

thainy77 said:

You can get a Power 4.3 for that or less with 5 years warranty, can't go wrong.

I doubt that.

[jonesy]

http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/sp6.4.3.php

he's right...

[willtvr]

jonesy said:

http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/sp6.4.3.php

he's right...

Compare item for item

[Targarama]

willtvr said:

jonesy said:

http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/sp6.4.3.php

he's right...

Compare item for item

Personally, with the warranty TVR Power offers I'd be very tempted to take that route.

[FL07AAV]

Hi Jonesay

Sorry to hear your bad news.

Hope I don't offend you with this post (and be seen as a vulture)
but if you don't want to fix the car, you could sell it to me?

[icraigmy]

jonesy said:

Thanks for all the detail Ian. Essentially you have a full rebuild then?

When did you have yours done, to me those prices seem sky high, luckily (for me at lease) prices now seem much more reasonable...

Thanks,

J.

I had my rebuild done in March 2007. At that time the 4.3L engine was not really available. The price of my rebuild is about right for the amount of work done, and was the best at the time. It compares with the TVR Power pricing. My trust in Richards work has certainly paid off because I have now done 15,000 miles since the rebuild and the engine is running smoothly with plenty of power.

I have'nt spoken with Richard at Dulfords about whether he is working on a 4.3L SP6 upgrade.

My advice is if you need a top end rebuild then you might aswell go for the full hog and upgrade to either 4.0L or 4.3L. My choice would be to go with Dulfords, but have you looked into Racing Green's FFF engine?

[jonesy]

Hi FL07AAV,

As I'm sure you can appreciate, only a major surgical procedure will be removing my backside from the driving seat in the long term. Nice try though ;-)

J.

[FL07AAV]

jonesy said:

Hi FL07AAV,

As I'm sure you can appreciate, only a major surgical procedure will be removing my backside from the driving seat in the long term. Nice try though ;-)

J.

Bah! Fair enough Jonesy, it's a lovely car and I dont blame you mate

By the way, if I were you, I would go to TVR Power and get the rebuild with a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty.

[Lensey]

Mine was done at Power over four years ago and over 15000miles ago, Dom said everything was fine at the last service the other month

[shorts!]

Also had a rebuild at Power 2 years ago and have done almost 60,000 miles (and about 10 trackdays) on it since. If ever I need rebuilding/upgrading that's where I'd go, though I'm not knocking anyone else's work.